Sea Change: Global Freight Sails Out of the Digital Dark Ages
If suppliers in China fail to pick up freight containers to fill an order for MediaShop, Marcel Schneider gets an alert via a digital freight system, allowing the retailer to reach out and fix the problem swiftly.Before July 2020, Austria-based MediaShop’s deputy supply chain director says he would discover problems in his supply chain only when containers failed to arrive in Hamburg as scheduled.“It was like being in a tunnel where you had only a limited view of what was going on…
A Call for Transportation Management Upgrades
In 2009, the United States alone shipped more than 2.2 billion pounds of goods such as coal, crude materials like wood, sand and gravel, and primary manufactured goods (United States Census Bureau). Undoubtedly, this required complex logistical planning for companies shipping their goods and left many transportation managers with headaches. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that there is an uptick in interest to invest in upgraded transportation management systems that help companies manage shipping both domestically and internationally.
OTAL To Invest $5 million in New IT System
The Bolloré Maritime Division (BMD) is investing USD 5 million in a new software management system called iQ-Ship. As a group company OT Africa Line (OTAL) will benefit from this system, which is designed to enhance the quality of service provided to its customers worldwide. system. iQ-Ship will enable OTAL to simplify and automate several internal processes. This will reduce the time and costs required to execute OTAL?s commercial, logistics and financial functions and allow staff more time meeting customers' needs. OTAL's marketing manager, Rachel Bennett, said: "We were impressed by the product's depth as well as Qiva's history and proven expertise in providing state-of-the-art systems.
Horizon Lines Announces Organization Changes
Charles G. Raymond, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Horizon Lines, Inc. said several organization changes, key executive promotions and a realignment of senior management responsibilities. Effective September 1, 2007, Horizon Lines, Inc. is structuring its transportation and logistics operations under two wholly owned subsidiaries, Horizon Lines, LLC, and Horizon Logistics, LLC. Horizon Lines, LLC will continue as the nation's leading Jones Act container shipping company, with a fleet of 21 U.S.-flag vessels and service routes linking the continental United States with Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Micronesia and Puerto Rico.
